Who are you at church?

In the 15 years I have been participating in church I have never been surprised when I walk into a church to find people hiding behind false masks of righteousness.

I ask the question, “How are you doing brother/sister?” and always here the same answer…

“I’m doing great! How are you?”

For the past few months I have been writing a book, as most of you know, and have lately tried to tie this lie into a chapter I call “Jesus In Drag”… Yes the title may be offensive, but I know that anyone who reads it will be able to identify with the message and the title will be clarified. It has opened my eyes to a truth that I pray all of you will think about after reading this blog.

Who are you at church? Are you yourself, or someone that feigns spirituality by putting on the church mask that seems standard issue amongst believers? Are you really doing “great” when people ask?

A few months ago I was at Saturday night setup- My church meets at the YMCA and on Saturday nights we have to put down the carpet, build the stage up, and rig the lights and sound- and I asked a good friend the same question I ask everyone at church…

“How are you doing brother?” I asked, expecting to hear a cookie cutter answer. But what he said caught me totally off guard.

“Not great man… I have been struggling with my drug addiction this week, really badly.” He answered totally unashamed of sharing his sin with me.

I was floored by his honesty and vulnerability, but it demonstrated a truth that I hope we will all think about this week.

So I ask all of you… How are you doing brothers and sisters? Is your walk strong, and are you submitted to God’s will? How are you really doing?

Mine is definitely not what it should be… Please pray for me. In 9 days I leave for Texas and will be separated from my church family for over 4 months… Please pray that I will listen to the Spirit’s instruction during this time period and will be able to honor Him with my life.

Please think about this… If you have a mask on at church, please take it off. The body of Christ is a tool God has given us, so why hide behind a false identity?

6 Responses to “Who are you at church?”

[…] that a lot of our problems could be worked through if we did it together. I recommend linking to Tim Kurek’s May 1st post. He talks about wearing mask’s. I know for me it is so hard not wearing one […]

I wonder if the “I’m good, yourself?” responce is really just because we know that the person asking doesn’t really care. After all, most times when we ask, “how are you?” we are just being polite and don’t actually want to know. When I do make it clear I care (and when others make it clear they care) I seem to get a much more detailed responce. There are definately masks though. I just thought I might offer an alternative possibility.

I remember one Sunday morning being told some of the worst news of my life – that my grandfather was a pedofile – and going to church afterwards. Everytime someone asked me how I was I replyed, “I’m fine.” I lied alot that day. I guess I didn’t have any real relationships at the time to allow for authentisity. But now I have learnt that deep relationship grows out of vunrability.

How am I going? I am more exited than ever about the gospel but still struggling with sin. God has been giving me amazing possibilities and I feel completely relient on him to help me take advantage of them. That’s been cool.

[…] that a lot of our problems could be worked through if we did it together. I recommend linking to Tim Kurek’s May 1st post. He talks about wearing mask’s. I know for me it is so hard not wearing one […]

[…] that a lot of our problems could be worked through if we did it together. I recommend linking to Tim Kurek’s May 1st post. He talks about wearing mask’s. I know for me it is so hard not wearing one […]

[…] that a lot of our problems could be worked through if we did it together. I recommend linking to Tim Kurek’s May 1st post. He talks about wearing mask’s. I know for me it is so hard not wearing one […]

Uriah Ministries

Welcome to Uriah Ministries! This site is dedicated to the brotherhood of believers, and to edifying the body of Christ. I pray you will be encouraged and blessed through the words posted on this site!
Also visit timkurek.com for my personal blog site.

Flickr Photos

Spurgeon Quote

“Love thy neighbor, too, albeit that he be of a different religion. Thou thinkest thyself to be of that sect which is the nearest to the truth, and thou hast hope that thou and thy compeers who think so well, shall certainly be saved. Thy neighbor thinketh differently. His religion thou sayest is unsound and untrue; love him, for all that. Let not thy differences separate him from thee. Perhaps he may be right, or he may be wrong; he shall be the rightest in practice, who loves the most. Possibly he has no religion at all. He disregards thy God; he breaks the Sabbath; he is confessedly an atheist; love him still. Hard words will not convert him, hard deeds will not make him a Christian. Love him straight on; his sin is not against thee, but against thy God. Thy God takes vengeance for sins committed against himself, and leave thou him in God’s hands. But if thou canst do him a kind turn, if thou canst find aught whereby thou canst serve him, do it, be it day or night. And if thou makest any distinction, make it thus: Because thou art not of my religion, I will serve thee the more, that thou mayest be converted to the right; whereas thou art a heretic Samaritan, and I an orthodox Jew, thou art still my neighbor, and I will love thee with the hope that thou mayest give up thy temple in Gerizim, and come to bow in the temple of God in Jerusalem. Love thy neighbor, despite differences in religion.” (Love Thy Neighbor- Aug. 9th, 1857)